


mike wheeler learns about emotions

by LocalLibraryGremlin



Series: yeah there gay keep scrolling [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Crying, F/F, Getting Together, Holding Hands, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Nightmares, Panic Attack, Will has PTSD, he doesnt but hes gonna learn, look me in the eyes and tell me that mike knows how to help a sobbing will, lucas and dustin have to teach him, mike doesn't know how to handle emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-04 04:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20464925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LocalLibraryGremlin/pseuds/LocalLibraryGremlin
Summary: Will has different emotional responses after leaving the Upside Down, and Mike learns about how to help.Takes place in season three, the night before the Castle Byers incident, but this is what happens instead.





	1. Will hasn't slept and stress-cries, Mike freaks out (ft. love confession)

**Author's Note:**

> this started with the idea of Will be sleep deprived and stressed, which equaled crying, and know it's a fic.

The first time it happened, they weren't even dating. Mike was ranting to Lucas about El, _again,_ for the fourth time that hour, hoping that this time he would find a solution to the El and Max problem that didn't involve Lucas suggesting that maybe El just wasn't for him, and that's why she dumped him.

Anyways, Mike was doing perfectly fine, ignoring his problems, such as the fact that he didn't feel much when he kissed El, even when he put a _lot_ of effort into it. Or that whenever Will walked into the room, he could feel his world narrowing down to Will, and everything that Will was, and he tried to ignore that Will was impossibly easy to love. And that it wasn't that El was hard to love, she wasn't, he knew it, (and Max knew it), but that Will glowed like the sun, and he loved the way he laughed, and that befriending Will was still the best decision he ever made, and that he knew he could be good for Will, that they could be good for each other.

So, Mike decided that ignoring Will, and avoiding the things that Will liked (such as DnD), would make the feelings go away.

It wasn't working.

So Mike was ranting to Lucas, and Lucas was very tired of it, and Will was setting up a game of DnD that he would find some way of getting out of, because he was pretty sure that seeing Will get excited about the game and telling stories and smiling stupidly wide would lead to Mike having to confront his emotions, and Mike didn't want that.

“I just don't get why they're doing this to me!” He ranted, eating more chips.

“Mike, you don't want to hear this-”

“Not the lesbian theory again, really, Lucas-”

“SHIT!” Will yelled, grabbing a glass of water that he had knocked over. “Nonononono....”

Mike groaned and sat up. “Will, it's fine, we'll play later...” He trailed off as he turned to Will. “Will?”

Will was trying to mop up the water with his...hands. Mike frowned at the way that his shoulders trembled, and he hesitantly got up and stepped over to his friend.

“I'm so stupid!” Will gave up on trying to clean up the water. He sat back down on the chair, and simply covered his face.

Mike shuffled over to Will, trying not to scare him, and then gently place his hand on his shoulder. “Will? It's okay, we can just wait until the game dries.”

“No it's not okay!” Will sobbed, curling himself up tighter. “I ruined the game, a-a-a-and now we're not going to play it, and i-it's _my_ fault, because I'm so fucking _stupid_ that I didn't even move the damn glass, and n-n-now you and Lucas are just gonna leave, and you already think I'm annoying so it's not like we'll play later, a-and Dustin's not responding so I can't even call him to play, and I'm just gonna be alone again!” Will just hung his head and sobbed, tears rolling down his face.

“What?! That's not true, you're not stupid! It's okay, the game just got wet, we can wait until it dries! We don't think your annoying, you're amazing and we are so lucky to have you in our lives, it's okay, please stop crying, you don't have to cry!” Mike said, talking extremely fast and nearly working himself into hysterics.

Lucas waited until they were both done, before walking up to Will and gently squeezing his shoulder. “Will? Buddy?”

Will turned his head to Lucas. “Y-Yeah?”

“Have you been sleeping? Did something happen at home?” Lucas lowered his voice for the next part. “Are the nightmares back?”

Will blinked a couple times, sniffled, and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I-I had a r-really bad dream last night, and then I couldn't sleep because the house was so loud a-and I thought it came back.”

“You've been having nightmares?” Mike whispered.

Will nodded.

“You didn't call?” Mike said, in a slightly hurt tone.

Will flinched, and gulped. “Y-You were with El, I...” Will trailed off and bit his thumb.

Mike felt his stomach drop. He took Will's hand away from his mouth, and gently stroked his palm. “You can _always_ call, you know that.”

Lucas gave Mike a look, and turned back to Will. “Did anything else happen?”

“My dad called.” A fresh set of tears appeared in Will's eyes. “He wanted to know if Mom had used all my life insurance.”

Mike jumped up, dropping Will's hand and seeing red. “He _what_?!”

“Mike.” Lucas glared at him. “Sit down.”

“No! He's not allowed to do that! It's been a two years, and Will is alive! Did he not fucking know that?! That son of a bitch-”

“Mike!” Lucas hissed. “Sit down, you're scaring Will.”

Mike looked over to Will, and was alarmed and ashamed to see Will look so scared, with fresh tears going down his face, as his lower lip trembled.

“Sorry, sorry.” He sat down next to Will, and gently took his hand again. He wasn't really thinking as he pressed a kiss to his palm. “So sorry.”

Lucas looked at the two boys: Will bright red, wide-eyed, with his other hand over his mouth as he tried to hide the look of complete awe on his face (it wasn't working), and Mike, who was simply looking at Will like he was precious. Lucas gave the faintest hint of a smirk, before hearing Will sniffle again.

“How about you take a nap while we wait for the game to dry, huh? Mike can let you borrow some clothes, you can either sleep here or in his room. Me and Mike will clean up the water, and then afterwards we can play. Does that sound good?” Lucas said softly.

Will nodded a little bit, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “C-Can you guys stay with me?”

Both Lucas and Mike nodded, and Mike went upstairs to get some clothes and a glass of water. When he came back down, Will was on the couch, and Lucas had set some blankets and a pillow beside him.

“Um, I just got you a shirt and these workout shorts, there kinda dorky and might be a bit big...”

“Thank you.” Will smiled at him. “They're perfect.” Will gave him a peck on the cheek, before going to the bathroom and changing.

Mike had a goofy, lovestruck grin, and damn neared swooned as he watched Will leave to get changed. He heard Lucas snickering behind him.

“Something funny?”

“You're so whipped, dude.” Lucas said, shaking his head.

Mike sighed, and decided to ignore that comment. “How did you know what to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, with Will. He just started randomly crying, and you immediately knew what was going on. That's never happened before.”

“...Okay, this is probably the first time you've seen it, but the crying thing has definitely happened before.”

Mike looked at Lucas and crossed his arms. “When has this happened before?”

“Do you remember when we where setting up the Cerebro, and you and El had to leave for 'curfew'?”

Mike nodded, feeling uneasy.

“About an hour after you left, we where putting it together, and Will thought that he had broke a part, and he just started sobbing. Max freaked out, and I...also freaked out. Dustin just gave him some water, a hug, asked if he'd been sleeping, and then told him that he wasn't mad at him, and then just let him read some goofy sci-fi book until he felt better.” Lucas shrugged. “Apparently he'd done it a few times before at school, but was just really private about it. Dustin only found out when Will broke a flask while they where working on a science project. Will almost started hyperventilating and the lab assistant thought he was having an asthma attack. Apparently it's some kinda stress side effect that happens when Will doesn't sleep enough.”

“...Oh.” Before Mike could say anything else, Will came out of the bathroom.

Mike felt his jaw drop. The clothes where definitely to big on Will, who had decided to tuck the shirt into his shorts. The blue of the shirt made Will's eyes pop, the shorts went to mid-thigh and helped Mike notice that Will was mostly leg. Will's cheeks where a pretty pink, and Mike noticed how long his eyelashes where. Will looked so _cute._

“Hey.” Will said softly, walking up to Mike.

“H-Hey. You have...legs.” Mike said, not sounding awkward at all.

“What an observation, Michael.” Lucas rolled his eyes at Wheeler. “Okay, Will is sleeping on the couch, I'm gonna go to the mall and get some cheesecake and hopefully Dustin, and Mike is gonna stay with you. Is that alright?”

Both boys nodded, and Lucas left to go cheesecake and Dustin, while Will curled up on the couch and fell asleep. Mike sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. About ten minutes later Will snored slightly, and Mike turned around to smile at his best friend.

Will looked so peaceful when he slept. His mouth was open, and his hair was already a mess somehow. His fingers twitched slightly, and Mike hoped he was having good dreams. His skin looked really soft, and his lips where stupidly pink, and Mike could see his eyelashes resting on his cheeks, and his heart pounded.

“Hey Will?”

Will didn't acknowledge him, just merely made a sleepy snuffle that made Mike smile wider then it should've.

“I'm really sorry for...everything, lately. I know that I've been a shitty friend, and I think that the way I've been treating you is starting to effect the way that Lucas has been treating you, and I'm really fucking sorry for that. I've just...” And then Mike trailed off because what else was he supposed to say?

“You're beautiful. You're so so beautiful. I felt so fucking jealous when that girl danced with you at the Snowball. I missed you so much when you went missing. I slept with your drawings and I thought of everything I would give up to have you back. And then last year with the Mind Flayer, it was somehow worse because you were right there but we where still losing you again, and I was terrified, Will, I was so scared.” He paused again.

“I wasn't even mad or hurt when El broke up with me. I was just annoyed. It's so stupid.” He took a shaky breath in. “I think...I know...I wanna be with you, Will. I wanna do stupid couple stuff with you, and I wanna take you to the movies and kiss you, and I wanna protect you from your shitty dad, and all the monsters, and I wanna make sure that nothing ever hurts you again. I don't want El, or Max, or any other girl. I just want you. And I don't want to want you, okay? It's to scary, it's risky, there's no way my parents would approve...what would Lucas say? What about Dustin? Max would have a field day, I don't know what I'd tell El...and I thought that maybe, if I pushed you to the side, pushed you away and tried to kiss El harder, it would go away...that maybe wanting you was just some phase and I just needed to grow up.” Mike gulped, and felt tears go down his cheeks.

“But that's not working, and I don't think it's gonna work. And I just need to admit that I...love you. Just you.” Mike laughed slightly, and wiped his tears. “But I'm to much of a wimp to say it out loud. Or when you're awake.”

Mike felt stupidly weak. He sighed shakily, resting his forehead on Will's blanketed side. He heard Will stir slightly, and panicked.

“Will? Will? Are you having another nightmare?” He whispered, rubbing his friends arm.

Will gave him a sleepy smile and opened his eyes. “Mikey.” He grabbed one of Mike's hands, and pulled it up to his chest. “Love you. G'Night.” He then fell back asleep, hugging Mike's arm to his chest.

Mike stared in shock, before a shy smile slowly stretched across his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the confession, Dustin and Mike talk, and Mike makes another confession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello im sorry if parts of mikes speech dont make sense but he is but an awkward teenage boy

Will woke up again about twenty minutes later, this time sleepily asking if Mike could cuddle with him.

So when Lucas came back, with cheesecake and Dustin, they came in to see Will napping on Mike's chest, while Mike stroked his hair and rubbed his arm.

“You two look cozy.” Lucas said going upstairs to put the cheesecake in the fridge. Mike rolled his eyes at him.

Dustin smiled and went over to them. “I heard that Will cried?” He asked, after saying hello.

Mike nodded, blushing slightly. “Yeah, he's been asleep since about three. Apparently he had a nightmare last night, and didn't tell me because I was with El.”

“Shit...” Dustin sighed, patting Will on the head. “Do you think we can convince Ms Byers to let him sleep over?”

“Maybe. I'll call Joyce later.” Mike shrugged, shushing Will when he whined. He turned back to Dustin. “So Lucas said that you knew about this stress-crying thing.”

“Yeah. I've been trying to let him know that it's okay to talk to us, but he says that he doesn't want to bug us with his problems.”

Mike frowned again. “Anything else that he hasn't mentioned?”

“I know that blinking lights bug him. He doesn't like being cold.” Dustin looked around, before leaning in closer to Mike. “I heard Jonathan say that he needs a nightlight.”

“Shit.” Mike mumbled to himself, running a hand through his hair. “He knocked over a glass of water and freaked out because it got on the DnD game. I was going to find some way to get out of it. God, I'm a shitty friend.” Mike tried blinking tears away.

“Mike...”

“Dustin, can I tell you something?” Mike whispered, looking at his friend. Dustin nodded.

Mike looked down at Will. “I think-I know I like Will.”

“Yeah, Mike, I know.”

“No, not in a friend way. In a gay way.”

“Yeah, Mike, I know. I get it.”

Mike's eyes became alarmingly wide, and Dustin smiled sheepishly. “You knew? How did you know? I didn't even know until, like, three days ago!” He whisper yelled.

“I'm good at observing people.” Dustin shrugged. “And Will's always liked you. I honestly thought that you'd two would get together after the Snowball.”

Mike snorted. “I wish.” He then turned an alarming shade of red, but Dustin just smiled at him. “Wait, when you said that you get it...?”

Dustin looked away from Mike, and chewed on his cheek before answering. “I wasn't jealous of Lucas at the dance, I was jealous of...of...”

Mike put the dots together. “Max.”

“Yeah.”

At this very moment, Lucas came back down. “Okay, Mike, let's wake Will up and play DnD...am I interrupting something?”

“Nope!” Dustin said, going over to the table.

Mike smiled, and shook Will's shoulder. “Will, wake up.”

“Mmh?”

“Wakey wakey, Will.” Mike said teasingly, sitting up. “Or we'll play DnD without you.”

“And eat cheesecake.” Lucas added.

Will slowly sat up, blinked, and rubbed his eyes. “Hey Mikey.”

Mike bit his lip in an attempt to hide a smile. “Hey, Will.” He pushed back a strand of lose hair, tucking it behind Will's ear, before just letting his hand rest against his cheek. “Didja have a good nap?”

“Yeah.” Will smiled sleepily, before looking at there position and blushing brightly. “S-Sorry, I didn't-”

“It's fine. It was nice.” Mike gave Will a shy smile, and Will smiled back.

“If you two are done flirting, you are welcome to join us.”

“Shut up Lucas.”

***

The boys had a very loud and disruptive game of DnD, to the point where they actually woke Holly up from her nap, and all three of them had to put her back to bed. It was now time for the sleepover, and Mike and Will where sharing the bathroom, brushing there teeth side-by-side. It was stupidly domestic, and Mike had no regrets.

Once they where done brushing there teeth, Will was about to leave, but Mike grabbed his wrist. Will turned towards him. “Mike?”

“Hey.” Mike smiled nervously. “I just wanted to talk to you, about some things, things that involve you and me, you know, you and me things, you and me as a unit.”

Will giggled. “Mike, that didn't make sense.”

“Yeah, I know. Um, I just have a lot to say, that I said when you where sleeping, but I think I can say it to you while awake now. So um, yeah, first thing, is that, um,” Mike was rambling, and he could feel his face burning red.

“Mike, what's wrong?” Will asked, properly holding Mike's hand. “You don't have to be so nervous, it's just me.”

“I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you, for reasons that are my fault, and I'm sorry for ignoring you at the mall, and I'm sorry for making you think that you couldn't call me when you had nightmares.” Mike bit his lip, and hoped that Will didn't care how much his hands where sweating as he grabbed Will's other hand, and intertwined there fingers. “Now, I might just be making assumptions with this next part, so, y'know, let me know if I am, but...” Mike paused, and took a really deep breath in. “I really, really like you, Will.”

Will blushed a really pretty shade of pink, and smiled brightly. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Michael blushed as well, and smiled as hand squeezed Will's hands. “I've been trying to get over it, but it hasn't been working, and I know that it's...risky, in this town, but no one has to know, and I just...I just really wanna be with you. So, maybe, we could that a chance on...this? You and me?”

Will sniffled, and a tears rolled down his cheek, and Mike almost started apologizing before Will wrapped his arms around his neck and buried his head in his neck. Mike stumbled backward, before catching his footing and hugging Will back just as tightly.

“I wanna take that chance, Mike.” Will said as he pulled back, giggling wetly.

Mike grinned, feeling his eyes water. “Sounds good. Can I kiss you?”

“Sure!” Will giggled, and Mike giggled back, and then they kissed. It tasted like salt and mint toothpaste, and Will didn't really know what to do with his mouth so Mike took the lead, and then Will giggled really loudly and Mike grinned, and it was messy and disorganized and _perfect. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! last chapter is more like the first.

**Author's Note:**

> next chapter: panic! at the mall
> 
> (plz dont hate me)


End file.
